thumb|The Motueka River near Tapawera, 1979
The Motueka River is located in the north of the South Island of New Zealand and is a popular tourist destination for watersports and fishing. The Motueka flows from the mountains 40 km west of the city of Nelson in the southeast of the catchment and flows north to the Tasman Bay. passing by many small communities such as Ngātīmoti, Woodstock, Riwaka, Brooklyn and many others as it makes its way its outflow into the bay close to the town of Motueka. as well as smaller tributaries called the Pearse, Dove, Tadmor, and Rainy.
Fishing
The river is well known for its excellent Brown trout fishing throughout its entire length. Large numbers of trout range below the Wangapeka confluence and very large trophy fish have been caught.
Invasive algae
Precautions have been taken to control the spread of an invasive algae Didymosphenia geminata, commonly known as 'didymo' or 'rock snot', a species of diatom, in the Motueka River and its tributaries,.
Integrated Catchment Management (ICM) project
The Motueka River has a wide range of land uses over its catchment of over 2000 square kilometers which include agriculture, with hops, tobacco, Asian pears and kiwifruit grown on the banks of the middle and the lower reaches and commercial forestry on lowland and hill areas. The livestock farming uses include sheep and beef farming and, increasingly, dairy farming, which requires a number of cow crossings on the river that can affect water quality, through introducing fecal coliform microbes and conflict with sports such as fishing. A special research project was therefore established as part of a nine-year programme that began in July 2000 and ended in September 2010. The aim of the research was to provide information to support the management of the environment of the area using an 'Integrated Catchment Management' (ICM) approach. This recognises the catchment or river basin as an ecosystem and includes consideration of social, economic and political factors.